MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Close to 200 people turned out last Sunday at the Twin Pine Event Center for a dinner and auction that celebrated the first anniversary of the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center in downtown Middletown.

A devoted group of community members and volunteers spent a year refurbishing the facility, which formerly had housed the Middletown Library, in preparation for its opening in the spring of 2014.

It's named for Chauncey W. Gibson, who in 1929 contributed funds to build the Middletown Library.

The Gibson family has continued its generosity toward the town, with Harry Gibson – great-grandnephew of Chauncey – helping to underwrite the building's restoration.

Organizers said the success of the May 3 event – on the same date one year after the museum's ribbon-cutting ceremony was celebrated – surpassed expectations.

Although an exact figure wasn't immediately available, Middletown Historical Society President Voris Brumfield said the anniversary party raised enough money to ensure covering operating costs of the museum for a minimum of six months.

Altogether, community members purchased 160 tickets – at a recommended donation of $30 each – to attend the event, in addition to donating during the silent auction or taking part in a raffle, according to Brumfield.

The highlight of the fundraising effort came in the form of an $1,100 check the Middletown Rotary Club presented to the museum.

The Rotary donation is earmarked for an upgrade of the museum’s storage facility, Brumfield said.

Such financial gifts are crucial, as the museum – which the county of Lake supports by offering the building at no charge – is supported entirely by donations and operated only by volunteers.

Brumfield said the museum’s first year included four different main exhibits:

– Veterans of the military, from the Civil War to Vietnam;
– Christmas, including an exhibit of 38 Santa Claus figures from nations around the world and nativity scenes;
– Handmade rag dolls by Sophie Lauterborn and English dolls by Elizabeth Eaholtz; and
– Spas in the Middletown and Cobb Mountain region, including the oldest, Harbin Hot Springs, which is presently being exhibited.

For the museum’s second year of the operation, Brumfield said, “Our plans are to begin serious fundraising and create an endowment fund.”

She added that next month the society hopes to mount a display of Middletown families whose names are recalled on highway signs, buildings and other local landmarks.

The museum's success also has led it to issue a renewed call for volunteers.

For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , phone Nina Bouska at 707-987-2349 or Voris Brumfield at 707-295-7174.

Visit the museum's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CGibsonMuseumCulturalCenter or its Web site at http://www.cgibsonmuseum.com/ .
  
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

A team of astronomers using ground-based telescopes in Hawaii, California, and Arizona recently discovered a planetary system orbiting a nearby star that is only 54 light-years away. All three planets orbit their star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun, completing their orbits in just 5, 15, and 24 days.

Astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California Observatories, and Tennessee State University found the planets using measurements from the Automated Planet Finder (APF) Telescope at Lick Observatory in California, the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii, and the Automatic Photometric Telescope (APT) at Fairborn Observatory in Arizona.

The team discovered the new planets by detecting the wobble of the star HD 7924 as the planets orbited and pulled on the star gravitationally. APF and Keck Observatory traced out the planets' orbits over many years using the Doppler technique that has successfully found hundreds of mostly larger planets orbiting nearby stars. APT made crucial measurements of the brightness of HD 7924 to assure the validity of the planet discoveries.

The new APF facility offers a way to speed up the planet search. Planets can be discovered and their orbits traced much more quickly because APF is a dedicated facility that robotically searches for planets every clear night. Training computers to run the observatory all night, without human oversight, took years of effort by the University of California Observatories staff and graduate students on the discovery team.

"We initially used APF like a regular telescope, staying up all night searching star to star. But the idea of letting a computer take the graveyard shift was more appealing after months of little sleep. So we wrote software to replace ourselves with a robot," said University of Hawaii graduate student BJ Fulton.

The Keck Observatory found the first evidence of planets orbiting HD 7924, discovering the innermost planet in 2009 using the HIRES instrument installed on the 10-meter Keck I telescope. This same combination was also used to find other super-Earths orbiting nearby stars in planet searches led by UH astronomer Andrew Howard and UC Berkeley Professor Geoffrey Marcy. It took five years of additional observations at Keck Observatory and the year-and-a-half campaign by the APF Telescope to find the two additional planets orbiting HD 7924.

The Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of extrasolar planets and demonstrated that they are common in our Milky Way galaxy. However, nearly all of these planets are far from our solar system. Most nearby stars have not been thoroughly searched for the small "super-Earth" planets (larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune) that Kepler found in great abundance.

This discovery shows the type of planetary system that astronomers expect to find around many nearby stars in the coming years. "The three planets are unlike anything in our solar system, with masses 7-8 times the mass of Earth and orbits that take them very close to their host star," explains UC Berkeley graduate student Lauren Weiss.

"This level of automation is a game-changer in astronomy," says Howard. "It's a bit like owning a driverless car that goes planet shopping."

Observations by APF, APT, and Keck Observatory helped verify the planets and rule out other explanations. "Starspots, like sunspots on the sun, can momentarily mimic the signatures of small planets. Repeated observations over many years allowed us to separate the starspot signals from the signatures of these new planets," explains Evan Sinukoff, a UH graduate student who contributed to the discovery.

The robotic observations of HD 7924 are the start of a systematic survey for super-Earth planets orbiting nearby stars. Fulton will lead this two-year search with the APF as part of his research for his doctoral dissertation. "When the survey is complete we will have a census of small planets orbiting sun-like stars within approximately 100 light-years of Earth," says Fulton.

Telescope automation is relatively new to astronomy, and UH astronomers are building two forefront facilities. Christoph Baranec built the Robo-AO observatory to takes high-resolution images using a laser to remove the blur of Earth's atmosphere, and John Tonry is developing ATLAS, a robotic observatory that will hunt for killer asteroids.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – There is a shelter full of dogs this week waiting to join families and have new human moms of their own.

Dogs up for adoption this week include mixes of Australian Shepherd, boxer, Chihuahua, flat-coated retriever, Jack Russell terrier, McNab, pit bull and Schipperke.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

'Butch'

“Butch” is a male flat-coated retriever mix.

Shelter staff said he is heartworm-positive so he will need treatment.

They said he is a great dog, and is good with female dogs large and small, as he lived with a small female. He does not do well with dominant males, but submissive males are OK.

Butch is in kennel No. 16, ID No. 2113.

Male pit bull mix

This male pit bull mix has a short dark brown and white coat.

Shelter staff said he is pretty well behaved with a moderate to low energy level.

They said he has been through a lot he appears to have been dumped in the middle of nowhere; when he arrived he was full of punctures all on his legs, possibly from a dog fight.

Despite all of that, shelter staff said he is very social and friendly with dogs.

He's in kennel No. 15, ID No. 2094.

Male pit bull terrier mix

This male pit bull terrier mix has a short gray and white coat.

Shelter staff calls him a “big squishy guy” who is very gentle. They believe he would be fine with children.

He has no food aggression, gets along with other dogs both male and female, and is very appropriate in every way.

The shelter is looking for that special "pitty" lover to take him home and care for him.

He's in kennel No. 13, ID No. 2035.

Male Chihuahua mix

This male Chihuahua mix has a short buff-colored coat.

He's in kennel No. 9, ID No. 2064.

Boxer-McNab mix

This male Boxer-McNab mix has a dark brown and whit coat.

He's in kennel No. 6, ID No. 2129.

'Molly'

“Molly” is a boxer-pit bull mix with a short black coat with white markings.

Shelter staff said she's a very mellow, sweet dog, and is good with other dogs.

They said she should fit well in most household situations with children age 3 and above. She needs a very secure yard.

She's in kennel No. 4, ID No. 559.

'Barney'

“Barney” is a Jack Russell Terrier-Chihuahua mix.

He has a short brown and tan coat.

He's in kennel No. 3, ID No. 2051.

'Pokey'

“Pokey” is a terrier-Schipperke mix.

Shelter staff said Pokey is very social and friendly, and has a great personality. He loves to play with toys and is great with other dogs.

Pokey is in kennel No. 2, ID No. 2054.

'Tippy'

“Tippy” is a female Australian Shepherd.

Shelter staff said they do not know her background, but she needs a home with women only, as she is very afraid of men.

Tippy is good with other dogs and has been fine with mellow children.

Find Tippy in kennel No. 1, ID No. 2142.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NICE, Calif. – A local man died Saturday afternoon from injuries he suffered when his pickup went off the road and hit two parked vehicles and a tree.

The name of the 57-year-old man from Nice was not released pending the notification of his family, according to the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area office.

The CHP said the crash occurred at 1:48 p.m. on Lakeshore Boulevard east of Collier Avenue.

The man was driving eastbound on Lakeshore Boulevard in a white 2004 Ford F150 pickup at an unknown rate of speed when, for an unknown reason, he crossed the westbound lane and went off the roadway edge, the CHP said.

Investigating Officer Erich Paarsch told Lake County News at the scene that the man's pickup hit a parked Toyota pickup that was sitting in front of the Drift Inn RV Resort. The man then hit another Ford pickup and continued north until his pickup came to rest against a walnut tree.

A section of the park's white picket fence also appeared to have been knocked out due to the crash.

Northshore Fire and Cal Fire personnel responded, said Northshore Fire Capt. Dave Emmel.

When firefighters arrived the driver was unconscious and unresponsive, the CHP said.

Emmel said medics worked to revive the man at the scene.

Firefighters had asked REACH 6 to land at Sentry Market to transport the driver, which it did, according to radio reports.

However, instead of taking the injured man to the Sentry landing zone, Emmel said he was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, where the air ambulance was told to respond instead.

The CHP said the driver was pronounced dead at the hospital just after 2:30 p.m.

Paarsch and two other CHP officers worked at the scene Saturday afternoon to take measurements and get witness statements.

He said the driver did not appear to have been wearing his seatbelt when the crash occurred.

The CHP's report issued later in the day said alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the crash.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Local high school students headed off to the next level in their education were honored at an annual reception on Monday.

The 10th annual Lake County University Admittance Reception was held at Kelseyville High School.

Each year, administrators, board members, counselors and college representatives all gather to honor the graduating seniors and their families who have been accepted to a four-year college.

This year, the schools invited 104 students, up from 95 last year.

Students are heading off to institutions of higher learning including California State Universities, Bakersfield, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Chico, East Bay, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Maritime Academy, Monterey Bay, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco Sonoma and Stanislaus.

Universities of California Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, also are among the places where local students will continue their education this fall.

Out-of-state and private colleges were local students will attend include American University, Ave Maria University, BYU Idaho, California Baptist University, Carroll College, Chaminade University, Eastern Washington University, Hannibal-LaGrange University, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Salem State, Stanford, St. Mary’s, The Master’s College, University of Nevada at Reno, University of the Pacific and Utah State.

Guests were welcomed by Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg, who challenged students to make sure the world knows just how great Lake County students are.

Senior Director Tim Gill also addressed the more than 240 attendees and shared his personal experiences of participating in the reception in past years as a parent.

Kelseyville High alumna and current Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student Blair Brookes revealed some insights as a first-year college student with the group, including the encouragement to try new things, remembering those you left at home and to never settle for being the small fish in the big pond.

Michelle Scully of Marymount California University’s Lakeside Campus shared her personal college experiences and advice with the audience, and congratulated all out of state and private college students.

Lower Lake High School Upward Bound Director Shannon Smith of Sonoma State University delivered the welcome bags to all of the students attending a CSU college next year and Jacqueline Ross and Blas Guerrero of UC Davis welcomed the UC students.

Michelle Malm and her staff at Kelseyville High School prepared the evening's buffet dinner, and band instructor Anna-Alicia Fullmer and the Kelseyville High School Jazz Band provided the event's entertainment.

Seating for the large group was made possible thanks to the loan of tables from Rick Malm of the CDF and the help of the high school custodial staff. Centerpieces containing seedlings were created by the students of Karen Jones’ CTE Floral Design class of Middletown High School.

During dinner service, guests were able to view a slideshow presentation featuring students’ career goals and special thanks to those that assisted them in achieving their college admission.

Students also were treated to a free raffle of prizes that included dorm survival bags filled with items such as first aid supplies, hand sanitizer, cotton balls, assorted screwdrivers, picture hanging kits, notebooks, tissue and other items that might come in handy as they venture off to college.

Thanks to the generous donations and loan of plants by Kelseyville Lumber, students were called onto the beautifully decorated stage to receive both recognition and small gifts.

All colleges were contacted and asked to send an item from their school as a welcome to the students. Many students received something from their college such as bags, pennants, water bottles and t-shirts. Every student received a tote bag from the Mendo Lake Credit Union and a deck of cards from Running Creek Casino. 

The University Admit Reception was created 10 years ago to honor the hard work and dedication of our local students and families who achieved a challenging academic goal.

Another objective of the event is to introduce students to other students throughout the county who may be attending the same or nearby colleges in the hopes that they can form a support system for each other.

The Career and College Readiness Department is proud of all of our Lake County graduating seniors and wish special congratulations to this group of college bound students as they embark on their higher education endeavors.

If you would like more information about the University Admit Reception or would like to make a donation to support next year’s event, please contact Tammy Serpa, education specialist at the Lake County Office of Education, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported this week that the garden area at the has been completed.

While the jail has had numerous gardens in the past, this is one of the few times where not only the inmates, but several of the officers were responsible for spearheading the project, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.

Prior to taking office, Sheriff Brian Martin told staff that he wanted there to be a garden at the facility. 

He explained that this would allow the inmates to not only have a sense of pride in the produce that they grow, but it would also instill a sense of ownership in the jail as well.

Correctional Officer Jeremy Pickens was the individual who had been pushing to have this project move forward and assisted with guiding it to completion, Brooks said.

However, Brooks said none of this would have been possible without the technical expertise of the Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Dolby.

Brooks said Dolby was responsible for constructing the enclosure and guiding the inmates in the construction of the raised beds and the sprinkler system. 

There have been numerous donations made towards the project, Brooks said.

One of the largest donations was the expert guidance provided by Master Gardener Gabriele O’Neill. Brooks said she donated her time to guide an inexperienced crew of officers and inmates in building a successful garden. She also donated several plants for the garden.

The purpose of the garden is to help develop some pride for the inmates and be a source of nutrition for them, Brooks said.

If the garden does well, Brooks said there are ideas to donate the produce to the local senior centers and possibly sell any extra at the local farmer markets.

While this is not a new concept in the corrections setting, Brooks said the direction of education, ownership, sustainability and community pride is what the staff at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility are trying to achieve.

The Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility is no longer just about incarceration, Brooks said, but also about rehabilitation and education.

AccuWeather reports the persistent drought in California and other parts of the country continues to be a drag on the agricultural sector of the U.S. economy, according to the Federal Reserve.
 
AccuWeather.com long-range forecasters are predicting the historic California drought will only worsen this summer.

Agricultural conditions worsened slightly due to wet fields, drought and a cold winter between mid-February and the end of March, the Fed reported in its April 15 edition of the Beige Book, a compilation of economic conditions across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts.

The drought will have a significant and prolonged impact on the economy, AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Senior Research Analyst Rosemary Radich said.

"As water resources become more scarce, price and demand will have disruptive effects on the economy for agriculture, retail and food service," Radich said.

Drought conditions continued to create challenges for many farmers, but those with adequate access to water benefited from favorable weather conditions in California, the Southwest and Pacific Northwest, the Fed said.

"Reduced water availability affected plantings of annual crops, including rice, corn and cotton," the report stated. "The need to purchase water or drill for water put upward pressure on the cost of production."

Drought conditions improved but still persisted in some areas of the Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco districts, while wet field conditions slowed planting in parts of Richmond, Chicago, St. Louis and Dallas, according to the report.

California received some precipitation this winter, but it was not enough to halt the 4-year-old drought.

Very little snowfall accumulated in the Sierra Mountains during the winter, exacerbating the California drought.

Drought conditions are expected to expand into the Pacific Northwest, AccuWeather.com Expert Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said as part of the summer 2015 forecast. Temperatures are also expected to increase along with the dry conditions.

"Precipitation is way below normal," AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Dale Mohler said. "There will be some tough decisions to make: Where does the water go? People need the water to consume. You have to reduce consumption somewhere. It will be a tug of war."

"If there is too little rain, the crops get stunted," Mohler said. "California and Arizona rely on irrigation; otherwise, they would not have vegetables and fruits. Farmers absolutely have to rely on irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley."

Corn and soybean prices fell in the Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City districts, the Fed said. Chicago and St. Louis districts reported that less corn would be planted this year, being replaced by soybeans.

Farmers tend to split between corn and soybeans in the Midwest, depending on the market price, Mohler said. Soybeans, which yield between 30 and 50 bushels per acre, are about double the price of corn.

"The amount of rainfall, the temperature - basically the climate - determines what kinds of crops are planted," Mohler said.

Rainy weather is expected this summer in the southern Plains and the lower to mid-Mississippi Valley. Drought conditions may initially improve in parts of Texas but could reappear later in the summer, www.AccuWeather.com meteorologists forecast.

Mark Leberfinger is a staff writer for www.AccuWeather.com .

An international team of astronomers led by Yale University and the University of California-Santa Cruz have pushed back the cosmic frontier of galaxy exploration to a time when the universe was only 5 percent of its present age.

The team discovered an exceptionally luminous galaxy more than 13 billion years in the past and determined its exact distance from Earth using the powerful MOSFIRE instrument on the W.M. Keck Observatory's 10-meter telescope, in Hawaii. It is the most distant galaxy currently measured.

The galaxy, EGS-zs8-1, was originally identified based on its particular colors in images from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. It is one of the brightest and most massive objects in the early universe.

Age and distance are vitally connected in any discussion of the universe. The light we see from our Sun takes just eight minutes to reach us, while the light from distant galaxies we see via today's advanced telescopes travels for billions of years before it reaches us – so we're seeing what those galaxies looked like billions of years ago.

“It has already built more than 15 percent of the mass of our own Milky Way today,” said Pascal Oesch, a Yale astronomer and lead author of a study published online May 5 in Astrophysical Journal Letters. “But it had only 670 million years to do so. The universe was still very young then.”

The new distance measurement also enabled the astronomers to determine that EGS-zs8-1 is still forming stars rapidly, about 80 times faster than our galaxy.

Only a handful of galaxies currently have accurate distances measured in this very early universe.

“Every confirmation adds another piece to the puzzle of how the first generations of galaxies formed in the early universe,” said Pieter van Dokkum, the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Astronomy and chair of Yale's Department of Astronomy, who is second author of the study. “Only the largest telescopes are powerful enough to reach to these large distances.”

The MOSFIRE instrument allows astronomers to efficiently study several galaxies at the same time. Measuring galaxies at extreme distances and characterizing their properties will be a major goal of astronomy over the next decade, the researchers said.

The new observations establish EGS-zs8-1 at a time when the universe was undergoing an important change: The hydrogen between galaxies was transitioning from a neutral state to an ionized state.

“It appears that the young stars in the early galaxies like EGS-zs8-1 were the main drivers for this transition, called reionization,” said Rychard Bouwens of the Leiden Observatory, co-author of the study.

Taken together, the new Keck Observatory, Hubble, and Spitzer observations also pose new questions.

They confirm that massive galaxies already existed early in the history of the universe, but they also show that those galaxies had very different physical properties from what is seen around us today.

Astronomers now have strong evidence that the peculiar colors of early galaxies – seen in the Spitzer images – originate from a rapid formation of massive, young stars, which interacted with the primordial gas in these galaxies.

The observations underscore the exciting discoveries that are possible when NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is launched in 2018, note the researchers.

In addition to pushing the cosmic frontier to even earlier times, the telescope will be able to dissect the galaxy light of EGS-zs8-1 seen with the Spitzer telescope and provide astronomers with more detailed insights into its gas properties.

“Our current observations indicate that it will be very easy to measure accurate distances to these distant galaxies in the future with the James Webb Space Telescope,” said co-author Garth Illingworth of the University of California-Santa Cruz. “The result of JWST's upcoming measurements will provide a much more complete picture of the formation of galaxies at the cosmic dawn.”

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Get your favorite denim and bling ready and come out to support the community.

The annual “Denim & Diamonds” fundraiser kicks off at Chacewater Winery & Olive Mill at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 16.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kelseyville Sunrise, the evening will feature dinner, dancing and both a silent and live auction.

Lindy’s Quality Catering will be serving a delicious menu of grilled prawns and tri-tip steak. A vegetarian option is available on request.

The LC Diamonds will play all of your favorite dance tunes to make the evening fun.

The club has gathered an array of items for the silent auction. Live auction items will include a flight with local pilot Tom Lincoln, an overnight for four at Safari West, a dinner for 10 at Thorn Hill winery, and a few more surprises.

Over the past five years, the Rotary Club of Kelseyville Sunrise has contributed $125,000 to local projects.

Funds raised by this event will enable the club to continue to fund projects in the community and beyond.

The Denim & Diamonds fundraiser has funded dictionaries for third graders, elementary school reading books, sponsorship of the Interact Club at Kelseyville High School and scholarships to graduating seniors.

The Rotary Club of Kelseyville has also completed projects to help Lake Family Resource Center, the Adopt a Fifth Grader program, and other projects with funds raised by the Denim & Diamonds event.

Sponsors for this year’s event include Fidelity National Title Co., Bella Vista Farming Co., Tribal Health Pediatrics and Obstetrics, Saw Shop Gallery & Bistro and the Lakeside Health Center of the Mendocino Community Health Clinic. Additional sponsors include PaknMail and Boatique Winery.

Tickets for this fun evening are $65 per person or tables of eight are available for $650. There are also additional sponsorship opportunities for $1,000.

For more information and tickets, call Marc Hooper at 707-349-0730 or Buz Dereniuk at 707 337-2873.

The Rotary Club of Kelseyville Sunrise chapter is made up of local business, professional and civic leaders. Members meet regularly, get to know each other, form friendships and, through that, get things done in the community.

For membership and other information about the Rotary Club of Kelseyville Sunrise, visit http://rotarykelseyvillesunrise.sharepoint.com .

Steadily and alarmingly, humans have been depleting Earth's soil resources faster than the nutrients can be replenished.

If this trajectory does not change, soil erosion, combined with the effects of climate change, will present a huge risk to global food security over the next century, warns a review paper authored by some of the top soil scientists in the country.

The paper singles out farming, which accelerates erosion and nutrient removal, as the primary game changer in soil health.

"Ever since humans developed agriculture, we've been transforming the planet and throwing the soil's nutrient cycle out of balance," said the paper's lead author, Ronald Amundson, a professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley. "Because the changes happen slowly, often taking two to three generations to be noticed, people are not cognizant of the geological transformation taking place."

In the paper published Thursday in the journal Science, the authors say that soil erosion has accelerated since the industrial revolution, and we're now entering a period when the ability of soil, "the living epidermis of the planet," to support the growth of our food supply is plateauing.

The publication comes nearly two weeks ahead of the Global Soil Security Symposium at Texas A&M University, a meeting held as part of the declaration of 2015 as the International Year of Soils by the United Nations.

A future 'phosphorous cartel'

The authors identify the supply of fertilizer as one of the key threats to future soil security. Farmers use three essential nutrients to fertilize their crops: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. The paper credits the discovery of synthetic nitrogen production in the early 1900s for significantly increasing crop yields, which in turn supported dramatic growths in global population. Because the process of synthesizing nitrogen is energy-intensive, its supply is dependent on fossil fuels.

"This could create political challenges and uncertainties," said Amundson. "Morocco will soon be the largest source of phosphorous in the world, followed by China. These two countries will have a great deal of say in the distribution of those resources. Some people suggest we will see the emergence of a phosphorous cartel."

Contributing to climate change

Another threat to soil security relates to its role as a mass reservoir for carbon. Left unperturbed, soil can hold onto its stores of carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. The most recent estimates suggest that up to 2,300 gigatons of carbon are stored in the top three meters of the Earth's soil – more carbon than in all the world’s plants and atmosphere combined. One gigaton is equal to a billion tons.

But agriculture’s physical disruption of soil releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. Based on the area of land used for farming worldwide, 50 to 70 gigatons of carbon has been released into the atmosphere throughout human history, according to the paper. Proponents of sequestration, the long-term storage of carbon in soil, have argued that regaining this carbon will be a means to mitigate continuing fossil fuel emissions of the greenhouse gas. 

"Carbon sequestration plans won't make a dent in the amount of soil released by climate change," countered Amundson. "The amount of carbon stored through sequestration would be tiny compared to the potential amount lost through global warming."

Of particular concern are the large carbon stores in the soils in the planet’s polar regions. Researchers have found that temperatures are increasing at greater rates in the northern latitudes.

"Warming those areas is like filling your freezer with food, then pulling the plug and going on vacation," said Amundson. "There will be a massive feast of bacteria feeding on the food as the plug gets pulled on the stored carbon in the frozen soil. Microbes are already starting the process of converting the carbon to CO2 and methane."

Recycling soil nutrients

The authors recognize the human reliance on farming and note that most of the Earth's most productive soils are already in agricultural production. However, they argue for  better management of the soils we rely upon.

One proposal is to stop discarding nutrients captured in waste treatment facilities. Currently, phosphorous and potassium are concentrated into solid waste rather than cycled back into the soil. Additionally, more efficient management is needed to curtail losses from soil.

Excess nitrogen, for example, is considered a pollutant, with the runoff sapping oxygen from the nation's waterways, suffocating aquatic life and creating dead zones in coastal margins.

Amundson noted that it did not take too long to get people to start separating paper, glass and aluminum cans from their trash for recycling.

"We should be able to do this with soil," said Amundson. "The nutrients lost can be captured, recycled and put back into the ground. We have the skillset to recycle a lot of nutrients, but the ultimate deciders are the people who create policy. It's not a scientific problem. It's a societal problem."

Other authors on the paper are Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, an associate professor of soil biogeochemistry at UC Merced; Jan Hopmans, a professor of hydrology at UC Davis; Carolyn Olson, a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Climate Change Program; A. Ester Sztein, assistant director at the National Academy of Sciences Board on International Scientific Organizations; and Donald Sparks, a professor of plant and soil science at the University of Delaware.

Sarah Yang writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Firefighters from several agencies responded to a small wildland fire above Upper Lake early Wednesday.

The fire was first reported at approximately 12:43 a.m., according to radio reports.

The reporting party said there was a flash and an orange glow up in the hills. Responding firefighters initially went to the area of Pitney Ridge Road near White Rock Road.

Northshore Fire personnel located the fire, on the main road going to the High Glade Lookout tower, at about 2 a.m., radio reports indicated.

Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos said a vehicle that had been parked in the area about a year ago burned along with some vegetation.

Also responding to the fire were units from Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, Beristianos said.

Beristianos said the fire burned about a quarter of an acre before firefighters controlled it.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Library invites the public to get to know about some of Lake County’s many-legged residents on Saturday, May 16.

Dr. Jamesina “Jamie” Scott, district manager and research director for Lake County Vector Control District, introduces “Lake County Insects and other Critters” as part of the library’s free lecture series Know Lake County.

The program will begin at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library, 1425 N. High St.

Scott will talk about the Clear Lake gnat, rice flies and mosquitoes and how they differ.

She will bring live specimens of each and display boxes of other local insects. Scott will talk about some of the other common insects and arthropods in Lake County and she will answer questions from the audience.

She says, “Thanks for the opportunity to come out and talk bugs!”

Scott has presented several programs at the library in the past which have drawn large audiences and much interest. Her enthusiasm for her subject is apparent to her audience.

The Know Lake County programs will take place on the third Saturday of each month from February through December at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library.

Know Lake County delves into many facets of Lake County with family-friendly programs designed to inform and entertain local residents about Lake County.

For more information about Know Lake County and other library programs call 707-263-8817.

Lectures scheduled in coming months will feature the Lake County Master Gardeners, the Taylor Observatory and Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association.

The year will conclude with programs on Lake County’s prehistory, Konocti Regional Trails, the Soper Reese Theatre and the Children’s Museum of Art and Science.

Know Lake County’s full schedule is posted on the Know Lake County Web site at www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Lake_County_CA__Library/KLC.htm . The schedule is subject to change without notice.

The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.co.lake.ca.us and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

Library events are also posted at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Lake_County_CA__Library/Calendar.htm .

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.